


The Fop & the Sorceress

by BardicRaven



Category: Disney Ducks (Comics)
Genre: Choices, F/M, Gen, Magic, Romance, Strong Female Characters, careers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-09
Updated: 2017-12-09
Packaged: 2019-02-10 20:07:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12919326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BardicRaven/pseuds/BardicRaven
Summary: Love and luck are both powerful things.





	The Fop & the Sorceress

**Author's Note:**

  * For [3amepiphany](https://archiveofourown.org/users/3amepiphany/gifts).



Once Upon a Time, there was a drake by the name of Gladstone Gander and a duck by the name of Magica de Spell. He was the luckiest duck in the world. She, the unluckiest sorceress.

There was also another drake by the name of Scrooge McDuck, who was the richest duck in the world, but he is only important to this story because of one thing that he owned and one thing that he said.

The one thing that he owned was his Number One Dime - the thing that he believed was the talisman that allowed him to amass and to keep his wealth.

The one thing that he said was that Gladstone Gander needed to settle down, to apply himself, to get a Real Job. It may have been one thing, but it was said often enough to qualify as many things, a blur that was scarcely listened to, never mind heeded.

But one day, Gladstone did listen, and heed, and he got a job, working for Scrooge, and because of it, ran into Magica de Spell. Not that she was calling herself that. No, she was Matilda, a name both of them would have cause to remember with Extremely Mixed Feelings later. She was after the Dime, of course, as she always was, but she led Gladstone to think that she was in love with him, and, in the funny way of such things, that often isn't humorous at all, eventually the lie became the truth. Enough so that when she was faced with the choice of saving Gladstone's life or achieving the thing she'd striven for for much of her adult life - she chose Gladstone.

And fled, because to save him, she revealed herself.

Back at home, dimeless and loveless, she had cause to sit and stew while stirring her cauldron, and that is precisely what she did. She stewed as she brewed, until her stewer was sore and her brews were overcooked.

What had she done? Why had she done it? Who was this drake at the end of the day? Why was he worth losing her best chance at gaining the one ingredient that she needed to gain herself immortality? The thing she’d striven for for so long?

Why had she thrown it all away???

* * *

 

As for Gladstone, after Matilda -  Magcia - flew away, he often found himself down by the river when he wasn’t working for Scrooge, dreaming of a duck with gold hair that suddenly turned to black, and harboring the sneaking suspicion that Scrooge was wrong about her – that there was far more to Magica than a simple-minded lust for his, Scrooge's, Number One Dime.

And that there was something special about her, because of her, that he, Gladstone, might never find again – someone who looked at him as if he were worthy of admiration. Not just a drake scooting along through life on his luck. But someone who mattered. Someone who was someone, and not just because of this wealth. Or his luck.

* * *

 

The story might well have ended there, if it were not for one thing: Gladstone Gander was the luckiest duck in the world.

So as Magica brewed and stewed, and as Gladstone sat by the river on his days off, wondering and pondering, the World plotted and planned to bring the two together again.

Like a seed, it grew. The desire, the attraction. The wish to know what, exactly, would have, could have, happened between them. One desire from two hearts. Two seeds planted in the fertile soul-soil of the Universe/World. And those seeds planted grew into vines, grew together, pulling the two of them together. Across space. Across stubbornness. Past pain.

Matilda found she couldn't stay away from the drake who'd liked her, admired her. Magica wasn't sure what or how she felt about this. On the one wing, she was a duck who wanted to be desired,, loved. On the other wing, she was a talented sorceress who wanted to stay that way, Who craved the time to learn, to practice her art, to get as good as she knew she could be - if only she had the time.

Immortality. That would be time enough to learn all that she desired to learn. The power of Beginnings that a Number One Dime brought would be the final ingredient she needed to power the spell to grant her that immortality.

But how to get it? Scrooge was the one duck that she knew of who had a Number One Dime of sufficient power to fuel the spell she needed to make her immortal.

And Gladstone, while her best way in to both grounds and Money Bin, and well, other things that she stubbornly refused to consider, well, surely he'd never fall for her again, no matter what wiles she used. So what was a duck to do?

Still, she found her thoughts heading toward Duckburg, and eventually, her body too. She found a small shop between two others - a little half-shop added in as an afterthought an indeterminate time ago - and set herself up as an apothecary.

She found pleasure in making potions for people, all the while watching both Scrooge and Gladstone from afar. Plotting and planning how she would make her move, find some way into Scrooge's house and Money Bin and grab his Number One Dime.

Because it would happen. Sooner or later, it would happen. She'd do what she had to do in order to make it happen. She and the world of magick were both counting on it. So she’d do it.

Even if that meant forgiving Gladstone for having the sheer unadulterated gall to fall in love with her.

_With Matilda,_ the voice inside her said. _He didn't know it was you until the end and now that he knows, surely he won't want you._

_You're wrong,_ she told it. _Gladstone loves me. I don't know why, but he does._

_We'll see._ the voice replied, then was silent. Magica went back to work, arranging the displays, cleaning the counters, wondering what the truth of it all was.

She didn't have long to wait. One afternoon a few days later, she heard the ring of the bell and looked up to see the face she'd never expected to see again this close. "Oh, uh, hi," he said, uncharacteristically hesitant. "I understand that this is the apothecary's shop? I need to buy some…. Uh…. apothecaryings."

She smiled, took a breath. "I think you mean potions," she corrected, far more gently and with far more patience than she'd expected to have.

"Okay," Gladstone said, recovering some of his aplomb. "Potions. Scrooge sent me to uh... get him some potions."

"Did he now? What kind of potions?" It was cute, she decided, how he was dancing around what he wanted to say. She decided she'd play along, see what happened next.

"Uh... he didn't say. He just said that he wanted them." At her 'Really, now' stare, Gladstone broke. "Okay, he didn't send me for any potions. He just sent me on an errand in the neighborhood and I wanted to see how you were doing." He looked at her a little worriedly. "Is that all right, Matil... I mean, Magica?"

She wanted to be snarky, she really did. She wanted to wipe that look of concern right off his face, replace it with the scorn she deserved.

Except… she didn’t.

“Oh, all right. I suppose.” Not the most charming of words, but from the look on Gladstone’s face, it might as well have been the most intricate of love poems.

“You mean it?” he asked breathlessly.

“Yes,” she said, much more graciously. “Yes, I do.”

And so it began.

* * *

 

Coffee at first, then lunch at a little bistro down the street from her shop, then dinner at an elegant place near the center of town. Flowers at her shop every morning, followed by a visit from Gladstone every afternoon he could.

And with each visit, each kindness, each date, Magica began to wonder more and more what she really wanted.

Because she wanted this.

And she still wanted magick.

The time to study magick.

But… she also wanted Gladstone.

There, she said it. She wanted Gladstone and she wanted magick.

What she wanted most of all was to figure out a way to have them both.

And that’s where she got stuck.

Every single time.

Because no matter how much she thought about it, every possible scenario she could come up with had only one ending. Either she gave up her magick for Gladstone, or, in the course of getting what she desired for her magick, she lost Gladstone forever.

It was impossible. Really it was.

But what was a sorceress for, if not to find answers to the impossible?

She became even more determined to find a way to have both her heart’s desires. Now, when she thought of how she might achieve her goal of grabbing Scrooge's Number One Dime, she tried to think of how she might do so without losing Gladstone’s love and respect. And when she thought of a life with Gladstone, she tried to think of ways that she might still be able to practice her sorcery.

Nothing yet. But she thought on, determined as she’d never been determined before.

Finally the answer came. But it wasn’t from her, it was from a casual conversation held at one of their luncheon dates, at what had become their favorite place – the little bistro they’d gone to for their first lunch-date months ago.

It started out so easily. “What do you want to do with your life, Magica?” Gladstone had asked.

“Study magick,” she said.

“That’s interesting,” Gladstone replied, and, unlike a lot of others, Magica could tell he actually meant it. “Would you study here?” He gestured with a wing at the city around them.

“No,” she replied, and to her surprise, she found herself talking of her little hut on the slopes of Mt Vesuvius, of how the power of the volcano fueled her magick, of the raven that helped her in her work, and the ghosts that came to visit sometimes, often interrupting it.

And even more to her surprise, she saw that Gladstone was drinking in every word she spoke, and heard him asking her for more. Sincerely asking her for more. She hadn’t thought she could love him any more than she did in that moment.

And then, in an instant, her old fears slammed down on her like an avalanche as Gladstone asked, thoughtfully, “Why do you want Scrooge's Number One Dime so much?”

“Why do you ask?” Her voice was sharp, defensive.

Gladstone looked up at her, realizing suddenly how the question must have sounded. “Oh, I’m sorry. No, nothing like that.” He reached over, brushed her wingtip with his. “No. In fact, I told Scrooge to stuff it, when he tried to discourage me from seeing you.”

Magica sat back in surprise. Now that was a thing she’d never expected to hear – ever. Someone telling the powerful Scrooge McDuck to be silent – and for her?

“I just want to know, if there’s anything I can do to help there be peace between you. You’re both important to me. And since Scrooge tells me that you’ve been after his Dime for years, I’m asking you – why?”

She never thought she’d tell him. She was wrong. She took a deep breath, told the fears in her head to be quiet, and began. “I love magick. There’s not enough time to learn everything I want to know. Not in one lifetime, anyway. I read of a spell… it grants immortality. But it needs the power of a Beginning to fuel it. A very big Beginning.”

“Like Scrooge's Number One Dime.”

“Yes.” And she rejoiced in the lack of judgement in Gladstone’s tone and the perception he showed.

“Hmmm...” Gladstone’s gaze went far away. “Hmmm!” he said, and his gaze returned to her. He smiled at her as he said, “Magica, would you take me home? To your home? The one on Mount Vesuvius? I might have an idea.”

She’d been wrong before. She loved him more now.

* * *

 

A few weeks later, and here they were, back at home in her little hut on the slopes of Mt Vesuvius. A bit dusty for her time away – Ratbreath never did understand why she asked him to whip ‘round with a rag every so often and tended not to do it when she wasn’t there to supervise – but still, home.

Magica relaxed as Gladstone explored the small hut, asking curious and surprisingly informed questions about the things stored there.

Finally, Magica could take it no longer. As much as she loved sharing her life with him, she knew that if she didn’t get the answer to the question burning inside her, she might just spontaneously combust. And being a sorceress, that was a threat much more likely than it might seem.

“So, what is it that you wanted to show me here?” she asked, impatient, excited, and just a little fearful. She had the feeling that, whatever it was that he’d brought her here to show her, it was going to change everything. And, in her experience, that wasnever  for the better.

Gladstone paused in his explorations, came over to her, stood there a little hesitantly. “I think I might just have an answer to your problem,” he said excitedly as he pulled out from his pocket… a dime.

“Scrooge’s Number One Dime?” Magica asked, horrified. What had Gladstone done? For her?

He shook his head. “No,” he said softly. “It’s mine.” At the look on her face, he hurriedly continued. “I know… I’m not Scrooge, but I’m hoping that my luck will make the difference. And, in any case, I wanted to try. Here you go.” He pressed the coin into her feathers.

"For me? But..."

"It's worth nothing to me if I don't see the light in your eyes," Gladstone replied honestly. "Take it. Cast your spell. Accomplish your dreams." If there was a glint of moisture in his eyes, he refused to acknowledge it. They'd have a lifetime - all most people ever got. So why did he feel the sudden aching desire for more?

Magica took the coin, held it in her wingtip. The metal was warm from Gladstone's body. She looked at it, long and hard, then handed it back. "No." When he made to protest, she held out a wing, gently brushing tthe feathers across his beak. "No. I mean it. Not unless the spell can be for both of us." A sad smile. "If I don't find one, I can always do it later. But this, once done, it cannot be undone. And I find, that if I cannot have you by my side, I don't want it." She shook her head. "I never expected to find something, somebody, I loved more than magick. But I did."

Now it was Gladstone's turn to shake his head. "I think you may have found a different kind of magick," he said quietly. Then, "Help me find a jar. Let's get this Number One Dime put away safe. For whenever you choose to use it."

And in that moment, Magica knew that she had chosen rightly. That this drake would not force her to choose between her heart and her magick. That this drake understood that they were one and the same.

"Yes. Let's find a jar."

**Author's Note:**

> ##### Thank you for introducing me to this fandom. It's not the one we matched on, but it is the one I've had fun playing in and enjoyed writing for you. I hope that you enjoy readomg these words as much as I've enjoyed writing them - and more.
> 
> #  Happy Hollydays!!!


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